Regional Extra 220323

SURGEON Stephen Franzi knew early in his career that living in metropolitan Melbourne was not where his future lay.

Though he was raised and trained in the city, Stephen said the experience of commuting for three hours each day convinced him regional living was on the cards.

“The aim was to have a three or four minute commute, so you could invest all that extra time in hobbies and family,” he said.

A year spent working in England before returning to Australia and taking up locum positions which spanned the country allowed Stephen and wife Cindy Bryant, a nurse, to search for the place that was the best fit for them.

Luckily for the local district, Stephen and Cindy liked what they had seen during his first locum appointment: a three month stint in Wangaratta in 1996.

“The town has a vibe,” Stephen said.

“The people are friendly here, and that isn‘t the case in all towns.

“The hospital was a big part of it

forged strong career

By SIMONE KERWIN

too – it has almost a family atmosphere, and is small enough that you know most of the medicos and sta .”

The fact that a good friend from medical school, Peter Thomas, had been living in the rural city since 1995 sealed the deal, and in 1998 Stephen started working locally full–time.

Now, having lived, worked and raised children Miriam and Jonathan in the area over the past 25 years, Stephen is in his final days of work, with just “a few stitches to take out” before he settles into retirement.

At the start of March, he completed his last day of surgery at Northeast Health Wangaratta.

The 63–year–old‘s impact on the local medical community was illustrated on that final day, when he was greeted with an extensively decorated operating theatre, morning tea, and generous farewell gifts.

■ Continued page 6

GONE FISHING

◆ CALLING IT A DAY: Surgeon Stephen Franzi is preparing to retire after 25 years serving the Wangaratta district. PHOTO: Kurt Hickling

with ROB

Feline Leukaemia Virus – FeLV

FELV is a virus that is spread between cats mainly through contact with infected saliva or urine, or in rarer instances, infected blood.

Once the cat becomes infected the virus can replicate in many tissues of the body including bone marrow and salivary glands.

All ages, breeds and sexes of cats are susceptible and once in the blood, the virus is shed constantly whether they are ill or not.

The virus can survive in the moist environment of urine for up to 48 hours which makes good hygiene important in its control.

It is most commonly a disease seen in catteries or houses with several cats.

There can be a long period between when a cat becomes infected with the virus and when the virus starts making the cat ill, however, all infected cats will at some point

PET CORNER

WANGARATTA RSPCA has many lovable creatures waiting for the perfect family to take them home.

with Felix deNatris, Wangaratta Veterinary Clinic

will show clinical signs.

The virus most commonly causes lymphoma, a type of cancer, in various organs in the body such as the kidneys or bone marrow.

The signs we see in cats will depend on which organs are a ected and can often manifest as a generalised illness particularly when the bone marrow is involved.

There are blood tests available at your local veterinarian or via pathologists to identify if cats have the virus in their blood.

Treatment and management options vary depending on the presentation of the FeLV positive cats.

If you have any concerns, contact your local veterinarian.

veins, spider veins and other venous disorders to the Northeast region.

If you want to add a furry friend to your home, call (03) 5722 2874 or visit the shelter at 1 Connell Street Wangaratta. Wangaratta RSPCA’s animal adoption source code is BR100934.

HERE COMES FUN: If you like confidence and companionship, look no further than Puss Puss. He likes to investigate new people, places and smells and can’t wait to meet you and find his new home. Puss Puss may be best suited to a new home with a large outdoor enclosure and would quite like to live with a friendly cat for company. Puss Puss’s microchip number is 956000015932544.

PHOTO: RSPCA

Broken Creek proving a hot spot for yabbies and carp

THERE is so much good fishing around the region at the moment that I do not know where to start my report.

Twice in the last couple of weeks I have been over to Broken Creek near Katamatite.

I have been catching a lot of yabbies and carp in the creek.

During last year’s floods there was a black water event that caused a fish kill in the Broken Creek.

Sadly, since the fish kill I haven’t had a single report of a yellowbelly or Murray cod caught in the creek.

There are however, a lot of carp and yabbies in the creek at the moment.

When I say a lot of yabbies, I

am catching around 100 yabbies in a single afternoon with just three to four nets.

They are not huge yabbies, but they are certainly big enough to eat and there are plenty of them.

Last Friday afternoon my daughter Holly and I caught around 20 carp, all around 30cm to 40cm long and around 100

yabbies in just a few hours.

The carp were caught on worms and corn and the yabbies were caught on some o cuts from recently filleted redfin.

I have had two evening kayak fishing sessions on the Ovens River just upstream of Wangaratta over the last week.

Between the two trips, I caught a total of 12 cod made up of both Murray cod and trout cod.

All of the cod were small with a couple of Murray cod being around 45cm in length - everything else was smaller.

All of my cod were caught on lures, with diving hard body lures, wake baits and spinnerbaits all catching fish.

Dr Peter Chu, vascular surgeon, is dedicated to providing effective and prompt treatment of circulatory and venous conditions to the Northeast region of Victoria. Dr Peter Chu with the assistance of Melbourne Vascular Imaging, offer the latest minimally invasive “walk-in walkout” treatment strategies for varicose veins, spider veins and other venous disorders to the Northeast region.

◆ YUMMY YABBIES: A catch of yabbies from Broken Creek near Katamatite last week. with Rob Alexander WANGARATTA

Looking after bone health

WE have 206 bones to keep healthy and strong.

My very wise GP fairly recently broached the topic of healthy bones with me and I thought it was a topic that we definitely need to speak about more often.

Bone health is something that a lot of us take for granted until something goes wrong.

Bones are flexible yet strong for movement and protect vital organs.

Bones grow in childhood, have a growth spurt in adolescence and are constantly rebuilt during adulthood in a process called ‘remodelling’.

When the structure of bone is compromised and becomes weaker and less dense the bone has an increased risk of breaking.

There are over 173,000 broken bones each year due to poor bone health.

Worryingly, over 1 million Australians have osteoporosis.

In those aged 50 years and over, 66 per cent have osteoporosis or osteopenia (low bone density).

There are many conditions and some medications which can a ect the integrity of your bones.

Family history, diet and lifestyle factors can also impact on your bone health.

More specifically these risk factors include:

• being female;

• having a direct relative who has had an osteoporotic fracture;

• inadequate amounts of dietary calcium;

• low vitamin D levels;

• cigarette smoking;

• alcohol intake of more than two standard drinks per day;

• caffeine intake of more than three cups of coffee or equivalent per day;

• lack of physical activity;

• early menopause (before the age of 45);

• loss of menstrual period if it is associated with reduced production of oestrogen, which is vital for healthy bones (the menstrual cycle can cease following excessive dieting and exercise);

• long-term use of medication such as corticosteroids for rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and other conditions;

• thyroid disease or an overactive thyroid gland;

• rheumatoid arthritis;

• chronic liver and kidney disease;

• some eating disorders; and

• conditions that affect the body’s ability to absorb nutrients, such as Crohn’s disease, coeliac disease and other inflammatory bowel conditions.

There are several things that you can do to try and protect your bones the best you can.

These include eating a healthy and varied diet which includes calcium-rich foods, getting enough vitamin D, avoid smoking, limit alcohol and ca eine and engage in regular weight bearing and strength-training exercise.

However, if you identify with the risk factors above, the best thing you can do is speak to your GP about your bone health who will work with you to keep your bones as strong as possible for as long as possible.

with Naturopath Belinda McPherson (BHSCI.

Gardening in March

MARCH is the perfect month to start planning what you might need for the coming winter.

Taking advantage of warm soils will help get your plants going before the winter chills set in.

It’s a great time to mulch to trap that warmth in the soil also.

Start thinking about what you will need both in the garden and for your home first aid kit or cupboard.

Some of the plants that I

consider in March include snow peas, a late bean crop, more silverbeet, broccoli and cabbage.

Herbs like garlic, coriander, leek, sage, rosemary, oregano and thyme are also great.

Now is also a great time to think about what you might need over winter in your DIY medicine cupboard.

Staples in our house are garlic oxymel, calendula oil, St John’s wort oil, chest rubs, elderberry syrup and dried medicinal mushrooms for

stocks, soups and stews.

These raw materials are very easy to grow in our fertile North East Victorian soils for cheap and e ective home remedies that are safe for your entire family.

Follow us on social media or check out our website for more hints and tips on how to use simple home grown ingredients to improve your family’s health today.

• Please consult a trained professional before using home remedies.

This Day in History, 1916

ONE of the North East’s most unusual mines was put into war service on March 22, 1916.

A reef of molybdenum ore had been discovered near to the surface of the ground, on the property of Dan Di ey near Everton.

Molybdenum was a valuable raw material. It was used for hardening steel, and its war time price soared to over £500 per ton.

When the Governor of Victoria visited Wangaratta for the 1919 Back to Wangaratta celebrations, he was presented with a polished sample of the ore in a handsome morocco case.

NATUROPATHY) NORTH EAST NATURAL HEALTH CENTRE

◆ HEALTHY: There are several things you can do to try and protect your bones.

with Teresa McMahon, practice manager and pharmacist, SOUTH WANGARATTA MEDICAL CENTRE

Surgeon forged strong career

■ From page 1

“Everyone had gone to a lot of trouble, and it was quite daunting,” he said.

“What was really humbling was all the good wishes – the things written in the card I was given were appreciated, and something I certainly didn‘t expect.”

Stephen will continue in a teaching role with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, in Melbourne and possibly also Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

He has always enjoyed this chance to pass on the knowledge gleaned over his career, which he says has seen many of his former students “eclipse” him.

“I find myself sending patients to former trainees, which is testament to the culture of the place – we must be doing something right,” he said.

“Over 25 years, a couple of hundred trainee surgeons have gone through here, as well as medical students from the Shepparton clinical campus.”

While he had initially considered becoming an anaesthetist, Stephen said the

technical, hands–on aspect of surgery was part of what drew him to the specialty.

“I enjoyed building Airfix model aircraft when I was young, and things like that involving manual dexterity, so I moved into surgery,” he said.

While surgeons are probably less likely than doctors in specialties such as general practice to see regular patients – working instead on those involved in accidents, emergency situations, or diagnosed with one–off conditions like appendicitis – Stephen said the many referrals to him for skin cancer treatment had allowed him to form connections with locals.

“Over the last 10 years, a lot of my work has been skin cancer surgery, and those patients are often frequent flyers; if you have one, you‘re probably going to get another,” he said.

“So it has been sad over the last 12 months to say goodbye to some of those people as I‘ve moved towards retirement.”

With such an expert eye trained on

FEATURE STORY

skin cancer prevalence in the district, Stephen said he was heartened when he saw primary schoolers protected from sun damage by hats and other precautions, but frustrated that those early messages seemed to vanish from their minds as they reached their late teens.

“Most patients I see are in their late 70s and 80s, but I do see the occasional per son in their 20s and 30s with skin cancer, and you know you are then likely to see them again,” he said.

As he winds down his work days, Stephen said he was looking forward to more time spent on his woodwork and metalwork passions, as well as devour ing episodes of ‘Forged in Fire‘ – a ‘Mas terchef‘–like TV series for bladesmiths – and potentially joining former NHW emergency department head Ian Wilson at Wangaratta Woodworkers gatherings.

He has no intentions of leaving the area: “People keep asking where we‘re moving to, and I say, ‘Why would I move?‘ I love it here.”

Upcoming Features

◆ CONNECTIONS FORGED: Stephen Franzi has enjoyed living and working in the North East over the past 25 years, and has no plans to move away from the area in retirement. PHOTO: Kurt Hickling

OVENS MEDICAL GROUP RECEPTIONIST - PERMANENT POSITION

4SITE Positions Vacant

SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING

Alpine Shire Council – join our dedicated team

Monday 18 December 2017, 5.00pm

• Council Chambers, 2 Churchill Ave, Bright

•Community Development Coordinator

The following business will be transacted:

•Project Officer (Strategic Planning)

1. Childsafe Policy

•Tree Crew Leading Hand

2. Mount Beauty and Myrtleford Transfer Station upgrades

•Multi-Purpose Crew

3. Resource Recovery Infrastructure Fund

•School Crossing Supervisor (Myrtleford)

4. Dinner Plain Village Green

Our Lady’s Primary School Applications are invited from suitably qualified and experienced persons for a part time, fixed term learning support position

(30 hours per week across five days Monday – Friday)

Ovens Medical Group is looking for a permanent part time receptionist to join our busy team. The position is available commencing April, 2023. Hours are negotiable between two and three permanent days plus relieving.

4SITE is a family owned and managed business.

We are looking for a Truck Driver and Garbage Collector to join our team for the Victorian Alpine and surrounding areas

Garbage Collector

Seasonal Position “Winter 23”

Mount Buller Area

5. Documents for sealing

FREE IMMUNISATION CLINICS

Children: 0–5 years of age, including catch up program for older children

• Students: Year 7 Secondary School program

Time to join an innovative organisation? Visit www.alpineshire.vic.gov.au/ council/careers to find out more about these and other employment opportunities.

• Adults: Adult Diphtheria/Tetanus (booster)

Bright Alpine View Children’s Centre

Tuesday 12 December 9.30am - 10.30am

Myrtleford Mountain View Children’s Centre

• Wednesday 13 December 9.30am - 10.30am

Mount Beauty Lakeview Children’s Centre

• Thursday 14 December 9.30am - 10.30am

No appointment necessary

The Pinsent Hotel are looking for staff to fill a variety of roles in BAR, GAMING & BOTTLE SHOP.

We’re celebrating our 100 years this year & would love to welcome some new team members to share in our celebrations. Whether you come from another role in Hospitality, or you’re looking for a career change, this could be the right opportunity for you!

We offer:

• ‘Staff only’ perks – including discounts on meals & beverages

• Thorough training with experienced staff members

• The ability to learn and move around within other departments

• Opportunities to grow within the venue

To be considered, you’ll need:

• A ‘can do’ attitude, backed by the confidence to follow through

• Reliability, flexibility & punctuality – We are open 365 days a year.

• To be well-groomed, friendly & approachable

• Great communication skills

• The ability to work as part of a team & sometimes on your own

• An eagerness to learn & grow

We offer on the job training for the right candidates, so if you don’t have experience, we can teach you.

We look forward to meeting you & hope you’ll come & be a part of our wonderful team.

CLASSIFIEDS WORK - 5723 0101

Native or near-native fluency in Auslan is essential, along with a strong desire to enthuse and encourage young deaf children to communicate.

For more details, please contact Our Lady’s Primary School for a Role Description.

Email your cover letter and resume, addressing the selection criteria to: principal@olwangaratta.catholic.edu.au by Friday the 31st of March, 2022. Sandhurst schools are committed to promoting the safety, wellbeing, and inclusion of all children.

Applications should include an up to date resume and be addressed to the Practice Manager, Ovens Medical Group, 70 Ovens Street, Wangaratta.

Applications close Friday 31st March, 2023.

Great jobs for G reat people

the following opportunities now exist for enthusiastic, safety focused people with suitable experience and qualifications. please visit our website to find out more about current positions available across Mawsons business divisions.

Heathcote – Concrete site Manager – Heat001

benalla – Concrete Cartage s ervices – CCsbeNa01

beechworth – Concrete site Manager – beeC001

Wangaratta – Concrete Cartage s ervices – CCsWaNG02

shepparton – Concrete Cartage s ervices – CCssHep05

Castlemaine – Concrete site supervisor – C ast004

Cohuna – It support o fficer – IC t Y001

lake Cooper Quarry – laboratory technician – lKCQ003

Mansfield – Quarry operator – MaNQ001

broken Hill – Concrete truck Driver – broK001

Kyneton – Concrete truck Driver – KYNe002

www.mawsons.com.au/careers/join-us

Licence: Medium Rigid Required

Forklift licence is Desirable

Truck Driver Permanent Full time position

Victorian Alpine and surrounding areas

Heavy Combination Licence preferred or have held a MR or HR Licence for a minimum of one year

Qualifications, Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• A strong focus on safety;

• Ability to work in a harsh alpine environment;

• Ability to exercise sound judgement and carry out instructions with minimum supervision;

• Demonstrated ability to operate as an effective team member

If you are interested in either position with 4SITE please send your Resume to jobs@4siteaustralia.com

Ph: 0437 169 998

placing your employment ad in NorthEast Jobs makes sense.

To book your

call 5723 0101

Finding the right job for you matters to us

Groundhog day - have you experienced this before?

YOU probably know the feeling: You’re in the midst of a conversation or an activity when, all of a sudden, you’re overwhelmed by the sensation that you’ve done this exact same thing before - but you know that’s not possible.

In 1983, Dr Vernon Neppe defined déjà vu as a “subjectively inappropriate impression of familiarity of a present experience with an undefined past”.

In simple terms, that means that when you have déjà vu, you feel like you’re experiencing something that you almost

certainly couldn’t have.

It’s not like taking the same route each day and recognising the scenery - that’s familiarity.

Déjà vu, on the other hand, is when you feel like you’ve had this exact same conversation or experienced this very specific scenario in the past, all while also knowing that it cannot have ever happened before.

You may not be a magician, but when you experience déjà vu, your brain is creating an illusion.

This is thought to happen when there’s a bit of a miscommunication between two parts of your brain.

You have two temporal lobes, one on each side of your head - right above your temples.

They play an important role in helping you to recall words, remember places you’ve been, recognise people, understand language, and Interpret other people’s emotions.

In each temporal lobe is a hippocampus, which contributes to many of these functions

and is responsible for storing your short-term memories.

Occasionally, like during certain types of seizures, your hippocampus and surrounding brain tissue can be activated, causing you to have memory experiences like déjà vu.

It’s certainly not uncommon or unhealthy to experience déjà vu every now and then.

It’s most likely to happen to people who are 15 to 25 years old, and your likelihood of experiencing it decreases progressively as you age (correlating to your ability to

recollect information).

It also happens more frequently during evenings and on weekends than during weekdays.

There are some other things we know about déjà vu, though researchers aren’t exactly sure why.

For example, you’re more susceptible to déjà vu if you: Have a high level of education, travel a lot, and/or remember your dreams.

Experiencing déjà vu doesn’t mean you’re having a seizure.

In some cases, though, it can be a symptom of temporal lobe epilepsy, a seizure disorder that starts in the temporal lobe area of your brain.

Temporal lobe epilepsy may be accompanied by tonic-clonic seizures, which cause uncontrollable convulsions and other muscle movements. Déjà vu associated with this type of epilepsy is also often associated with a loss of awareness, shaking, tonguebiting, urine loss and post-seizure confusion.

with Chris Febvre NEM GRAPHIC ARTIST cfebvre@nemedia.com.au

◆ HAVE YOU SEEN THIS SCENE BEFORE: Déjà vu is the sensation that you feel like you’re experiencing something that you almost certainly couldn’t have.